Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (RA), also known as Gharib Nawaz, was born in Sajistan, Khorasan in Persia in 1141 and died in 1230 CE. He was the founder and the most famous Sufi saint of the Chistiyya order in India and South Asia. He was a direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

He was gentle and compassionate of character and nature, and from a very early age preferred others over himself and gave freely of what he had. He is said to have become ‘hafiz-al-Qur’an’ at the age of 9 and, being from a devout family of Sayyeds, lived a life of quiet devotion, earning a living from some property and a watermill which he inherited in his teens when his father died. Still in his youth, he had an encounter with a dervish and this apparently had a profound effect on him, changing the whole course of his life. He sold his property and distributed its proceeds to the needy, and gave himself over to the search for knowledge.

The Khwaja trained in the seminaries of Samarkand and Bukhara and, in search of knowledge, visited nearly all the great centers of Muslim culture and served some of the most eminent scholars, sages and saints of his age, including Shaykh Abdul Qadar Jillani (RA) who was also a blood relation of his. He became the disciple of the Chishti Khwaja Uthman Harooni (RA) and trained with him for some years. They traveled the Middle East extensively together, including visits to Makkah and Medina. Although he disapproved of popularity and preferred solitude, the Khwaja’s fame drew hoards of people and he invariably moved on to escape the intrusion.

In his 50’s, the Khwaja, with just a few of his followers and retinue, turned towards India after a dream in which the Holy Prophet (SAW) directed him to do so, and, after a brief stay in Lahore and Delhi, he reached Ajmer where he settled down. There he attracted a substantial following, acquiring a great deal of respect amongst the residents of the city.

This prosaic and potted historical account belies the significance and immensity of the Khwaja’s mission and undertaking. Ajmer could not have been a hospitable place to settle in. At the time it was the seat of power of the Chauhan Dynasty. It was from Ajmer that the last Hindu ruler of Delhi, Prithviraj Chauhan controlled a major part of Northern India. The region also had a special significance for Hindus. Pushkar, which is a short distance from Ajmer, is where, according to Hindu mythology, a lotus flower dropped by the Hindu god Brahma fell on Earth giving rise to a lake that sprang out of the Thar Desert and where there are some 400 Temples, 52 Ghats and the only temple in India that is dedicated to the Lord Brahma.

Legend and tradition has it that, some years before the Khwaja’s coming, the Raja’s mother had had a vivid dream of his arrival in Ajmer and of the subsequent fall of the dynasty, and an image of the Khwaja had been drawn and circulated to lookouts throughout Prithviraj’s domain to intercept the him and prevent him from settling. The Khwaja was identified when he did arrive and attempts were made to expel or eliminate him.  There are many accounts of the miraculous events that ensued in the epic battles between the combined forces of the powerful monarch and the modest, unarmed faqir who had come and set up camp. According to some accounts, it was as a result of the Khwaja’s spiritual influence that that the invading Muslim Turks conquered the Raja Prithviraj and took over Delhi.

The Khwaja was a stranger in Ajmer. In the light of the invasions and onslaught from Muslim invaders from the north, he must have been regarded with hostility and suspicion. He was unfamiliar with the place and people, their culture and language, and charged with the responsibility of a holy mission to convey the Message of La Ilaha ilAllah, Muhammad’ur Rasool’Allah to people who believed in a multiple of deities and whose scriptures and traditions, superficially at least, were inimical to such a concept How did he survive and succeed in becoming Khwaja Hind Wali (the Saint of India) or Khwaja Garib Nawaz (the Protector and Provider of the Poor)?

The Khwaja appears to have been undaunted by the odds and the enormity of the task. He was armed solely with the Truth and his strength lay solely in his faith in Oneness of Allah and in the example of the Prophet under whose blessings and direction he had set out on his odyssey. It can only have been by his beautiful and pious conduct and with love and compassion that he won the hearts of the people of Ajmer and the region and, eventually, of the whole of the Asian sub Continent. He did not reject the local culture and traditions and, on the contrary, succeeded in blending and harmonizing them. Under his sway the art of Qawali was born and probably the first roots of the Urdu language took hold. In a very real and positive way, Khwaja Gharib Nawaz laid the foundation of what is India now.

Such are the accounts of his miraculous intervention that some eight hundred years since his death, millions of people from all ethnic and religious backgrounds flock to Ajmer to pay their respects or to importune prayers of intervention for relief and succour. Kings and rulers, from the 16th Century Mogul Emperor Akbar to the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi have come to his graveside to rub shoulders with the most desperate and destitute of people who cluster there with their begging bowls or their upturned hands, all commemorating his spiritual excellence or asking for his miraculous intervention. It is said that none leaves his graveside empty handed.

The Khwaja’s example is more relevant today then ever and his conduct must be a source of lesson and inspiration to us all. His dargah has been built and extended by the grateful rulers and wealthy public figures of India over the centuries and is a monument to. love and compassion which alone can transcend the boundaries and barriers of ethnicity, culture and superficial religiosity.

My Shaykh and Mursheed said to me many years ago that the Rasool’Allah’s (SAW) imperative to ‘seek knowledge’ should be understood in the context of his saying that ‘one who knows himself, knows Allah’. We seek knowledge to know ourselves and the more we know ourselves, the more our scholarly efforts coalesce into wisdom and the knowledge of Allah until scholarship, which is just the means to an end, becomes sublimated and awareness of Allah permeates our being, and knowledge and wisdom translate into positive and dynamic action. Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, Shaykh Abdul Qadar Gillani and Imam Al Ghazali are all exemplars of this.

These are troubled times: Islam is much maligned and regarded with fear and hostility. Muslim countries are invaded, controlled or manipulated. Muslim societies are riven with internal conflict and violent discord and innocent men, women and children are murdered by Muslims themselves, as well as their enemies, invaders or occupiers. As much as 10% of the population of the world struggles with poverty, hunger and disease, and face a moment by moment challenge to survive, while an equal percentage is bloated with such an excess of riches and grotesque profusion of provision as the world has never known. The world needs desperately that Ihsan, that husn of conduct that the Khwaja exemplified, that love and compassion which wins over the hearts and minds of those whose life and purpose is invested with hostility, fear and alienation, and all forms of violence.

All those who regard the Khwaja with respect and reverence owe it to society that, if we value his example and legacy, we do something practical to help relieve the suffering of the needy who live amongst us. In this context, I urge the luminaries and the well-endowed, willing, able and competent in our midst to form a trust, perhaps called the Gharib Nawaz Trust, or similar institution, which will address indiscriminately the needs of the homeless and hungry, the uneducated and un-empowered, the widowed and orphaned, the sick and disabled, and the needy of any sort, so that we may create a means to extend the Khwaja’s compassion and generosity here, where it is sorely and increasingly needed. To do so would mean forming a properly structured, independent and transparently administered institution into which resources can be directed and the activities of which can be strategised and ordered. I, for one, in all humility and modesty, offer whatever help and support I am able to muster.

Bashier Sacranie is the author of ISHQ (Love) of Jalalu’dddin Rumi; Impressions and inspirations.
He hails from Malawi where he was associated with an international firm of professional
accountants and business consultants. He is currently living in Cape Town.